Google the Pest

[yoopers]

Why is Google doing this to me? It has latched itself onto my system as the homepage and I don't want it to be such. I use Yahoo as my homepage and have changed it back through Tools-Internet Options- yet it still reverts back to Google. I then went into regedit-Internet Explorer-Main-Start Page- and changed that back to Yahoo but it doesn't help.

How can I exterminate this Google pest for good?

[habbywall]

Get a Mac.
Sorry I can't help you for real.

[dudewithasock]

Why is Google doing this to me? It has latched itself onto my system as the homepage and I don't want it to be such. I use Yahoo as my homepage and have changed it back through Tools-Internet Options- yet it still reverts back to Google. I then went into regedit-Internet Explorer-Main-Start Page- and changed that back to Yahoo but it doesn't help.

How can I exterminate this Google pest for good?

Firefox.

[monkeyman]

Try using Google for your homepage.

[Jerrick]

Control settings - Add/remove programs.

You probably have the google toolbar or somehing from google downloaded changing yor internet settings.

[UniTyler]

Firefox.

+1

[bungalistic]

There is no reason why it should do this unless perhaps you have multiple browsers with conflicting homepages, I changed mine and it worked just fine and remembered the homepage no problem.
Try changing it then deleting all your temp internet files and cookies, it may be that google has some stored memory stuff in there. The google toolbar can be used with any homepage and should have no effect on your choice either.
I'd do as dudewithasock says above though and use firefox as explorer is crap and a bug ridden pain in the arse.

[headstone]

googles better

[john_childs]

I'd do as dudewithasock says above though and use firefox as explorer is crap and a bug ridden pain in the arse.
Firefox is a bug ridden pain in the arse as well and so are the fanbois. Firefox has its share of bugs and has had some remote code execution vulnerabilities as well. Firefox can also be unstable at times and has other annoying random bugs as well.

The Google Toolbar in Firefox will also change your default search engine to Google. Same as the IE version of the Google Toolbar. Using Firefox doesn't protect you from such shenanigans.

[This was posted using IE7] :p

[Borgschulze]

I use Google as my homepage with Firefox.

I hate Internet Explorer, it's just gross to me.

[captainkrunk61]

You probably have some sort of virus. I had a problem like this, but my home page wasn't google. It was some random german site. It would never let me change it. I just eventually caught it with Spybot.

Sidenote: I had firefox until IE 7 came out. In my opinion IE7 > Firefox 2.0

[johnfoss]

You probably have some sort of virus.
Not virus, but probably some kind of adware/spyware/malware. Are you using a good anti-spyware tool? Something like SpySweeper can probably find and remove the culprit.

[James_Potter]

Firefox is a bug ridden pain in the arse as well and so are the fanbois. Firefox has its share of bugs and has had some remote code execution vulnerabilities as well. Firefox can also be unstable at times and has other annoying random bugs as well.
What kind of instabilities and random bugs does it have?
I haven't found any yet...well, I guess sometimes it has the random shut down feature, but definitely not as often as IE.

[john_childs]

Not virus, but probably some kind of adware/spyware/malware. Are you using a good anti-spyware tool? Something like SpySweeper can probably find and remove the culprit.
It's probably the Google Toolbar. Lots of programs are distributing the Google Toolbar or the Yahoo! Toolbar as part of their install. There will be an option during the install that asks if you want to install the Google Toolbar (or Yahoo! Toolbar) and that option will default to yes. If you're not careful it is easy to get one of the toolbars installed.

For example, IrfanView now comes with the Google Toolbar. During the install of IrfanView it will ask if you want to install the Google Toolbar. It's easy to breeze by that and end up with the Google Toolbar installed.

The good news is that the Google and Yahoo toolbars uninstall easily without any funny business.

[john_childs]

What kind of instabilities and random bugs does it have?
I haven't found any yet...well, I guess sometimes it has the random shut down feature, but definitely not as often as IE.
Firefox can get unstable for various reasons. For example the Adobe PDF plug-in would cause instability if you tried viewing a PDF in the browser. Version 2 addressed that and it seems to be better now, although not completely fixed. There are other situations that can cause Firefox to crash.

Firefox still has a random problem with going in to search as you type mode when you type a "/" or "'" (single quote). That will happen while typing a reply here in the forum. If it happens you will be unable to type a slash or single quote in your message because every time you do the search bar will come up. It's a random problem. It's still a problem in version 2.

The new spell check is nice, but the word suggestions it gives can be very brain dead. I can type in a word that is just one letter off from the correct spelling and the suggestions the spell checker gives are way way off. It's hard to complain too much because IE7 doesn't have a spell checker built in, but geesh. You'd think a project the size of Mozilla, with applications like Thunderbird where spell checking is needed, would have a better spell check engine.

I use both Firefox and IE7. I use Firefox much more often, but IE7 still gets use.

[This was posted using Firefox]

[gkmac]

It's probably the Google Toolbar. Lots of programs are distributing the Google Toolbar or the Yahoo! Toolbar as part of their install. There will be an option during the install that asks if you want to install the Google Toolbar (or Yahoo! Toolbar) and that option will default to yes.I really do question why Google and Yahoo seem to do this disrepectful act of hiding amongst bigger programs and slipping themselves in through the door while the user (doorman) checks how the bigger program is going to come in.

Despite how useful they could be, not everybody wants these toolbars. If they choose to have them, what's wrong with simply going to the Google or Yahoo websites and downloading and installing them yourself?

Do they really think that a user is so incapable of making their own choice and decision about how their web browser functions?

[dudewithasock]

Firefox still has a random problem with going in to search as you type mode when you type a "/" or "'" (single quote). That will happen while typing a reply here in the forum. If it happens you will be unable to type a slash or single quote in your message because every time you do the search bar will come up. It's a random problem. It's still a problem in version 2.

Ew yeah, that is annoying...happens every 2-3 weeks and takes like 20 minutes to stop doing.

[johnfoss]

Do Google and Yahoo actually have unchangeable homepage settings as part of their toolbars? That doesn't make sense to me, at least in the case of Google which doesn't have much of a homepage if you already have the search bar. It seems like those toolbars are somehow "tainted," but if tainted, why would it be just to lock in those companys' toolbars? I use Firefox, which comes with a search bar built in. You can set it to any search engine you want, but the default is Google. Why do I need a toolbar?

Despite how useful they could be, not everybody wants these toolbars. If they choose to have them, what's wrong with simply going to the Google or Yahoo websites and downloading and installing them yourself?
It's all about business. The companies make deals with each other to offer more or better stuff, and those deals come with "downsides."

One of my least favorite things about Windows is how easily "extraneous" stuff can attach itself to your system without you asking or knowing. Like leeches. I have not noticed this on my Mac, though I'm sure it goes on somewhere. Software on the Mac is also much easier to track down and delete.

[monkeyman]

Do Google and Yahoo actually have unchangeable homepage settings as part of their toolbars?

Nope. It does at first, but my homepage right now is about:blank, just because IE loads faster that way. Before that, I had it set as Yahoo!Mail, and there was never the problem of changing to something else.

[Jerrick]

Nope. It does at first, but my homepage right now is about:blank, just because IE loads faster that way. Before that, I had it set as Yahoo!Mail, and there was never the problem of changing to something else.


Hehe, I have mine set to blank too!

[James_Potter]

I use both Firefox and IE7. I use Firefox much more often, but IE7 still gets use.
There's an extension in Firefox where you can open a tab in Firefox but the tab is in IE...Firefox still wins!

[forrestunifreak]

Hehe, I have mine set to blank too!

I wish I could do that on this computer, my mom has the homepage set to yahoo news but I always cancel navigation as soon as IE comes up. I never wait for any dumb homepage to come up when I already know were I want to go...

[bungalistic]

I started using firefox as a way to make sure any website I was creating worked in multiple browsers, it was easier to get it to work in firefox first and then edit it to make it work in IE rather than the other way round, I eventually just got used to using it so kept on so. There's still a few things I don't like about it but its just a personal preference in the end.

[James_Potter]

My homepage is this (http://unicyclist.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27878&perpage=1).

[monkeyman]

Google the Pest

K. (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-39,GGLJ:en&q=the+Pest)

[spazdude222]

You should become amish. I have yet to meet an amish guy with computer problems...

[john_childs]

Do Google and Yahoo actually have unchangeable homepage settings as part of their toolbars?
The toolbars have an option to protect their settings for default search engine and default home page. If the Google toolbar detects that the home page or default search engine has been changed it will change it back to Google. There is a checkbox in the toolbar options to control that behavior. I presume Yahoo does the same.

Yes it's annoying for those of us who like to have control over what their computer does. At the same time I can understand why Google has to do that.

[ivan]

Yes it's annoying for those of us who like to have control over what their computer does. At the same time I can understand why Google has to do that.
Could you please explain why? Because I cannot understand.

[john_childs]

I really do question why Google and Yahoo seem to do this disrepectful act of hiding amongst bigger programs and slipping themselves in through the door while the user (doorman) checks how the bigger program is going to come in.
It's about money. Google and Yahoo pay for getting their toolbar installed. A developer of a free program like IrfanView see that as a way to get some additional money for their work. Commercial programs also get in the act and bundle toolbars.

I don't like it. But if I was a developer of a popular freeware application I would consider bundling in a toolbar if it made me some money. I'm not sure if I would do it or not, but I would certainly consider it.

The donations to freeware projects is probably not much, even for very popular applications like IrfanView. I'd admit that I haven't donated to IrfanView even though I use the application. I have donated to other freeware projects.

[john_childs]

Could you please explain why? Because I cannot understand.
Because there are other underhanded (spyware and crapware) programs that change the settings behind the back of the user. Presumably if someone has installed the Google toolbar they want Google as their default search engine and as their home page. There is a checkmark in the settings that says so. So Google protects that selection.

[ivan]

Because there are other underhanded (spyware and crapware) programs that change the settings behind the back of the user. Presumably if someone has installed the Google toolbar they want Google as their default search engine and as their home page. There is a checkmark in the settings that says so. So Google protects that selection.
Yes, but it sort of ends up with Google toolbar being the spyware and changing the settings, if you know what I mean.

[yoopers]

All fixed.

I had a couple viruses and quite a bit of other spy junk. Now that it's all cleaned up, everything is back to normal. Thanks for all the help and the discussion. It was quite informative and entertaining.

B

[iridemymuni]

yay